


Nick Comes Home

by princeperalta



Category: The Royal We - Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:53:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21736366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princeperalta/pseuds/princeperalta
Summary: It’s nearing the end of Nick’s second deployment on the Pembroke, after Bex and Freddie’s kiss and her breakdown at Cilla and Gaz’s wedding. In between the time jump between Autumn 2013 and Present Day.
Relationships: Nick and Bex, Rebecca “Bex” Porter/Prince Nicholas of Wales
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	Nick Comes Home

After my little meltdown at Gaz and Cilla’s wedding (and unfortunate mistake with Freddie), I was desperate for January 3 to come along. Sure, talking with Nick for a luxurious 15 minutes on the phone revived me and reminded me of what all of the emotional torture was for, but one phone call wasn’t going to tide me over because for every minute we had together, there were 30 of Marj analyzing every aspect of my life and making sure that I would be the “princess that Britain needs.” Talking with Nick helped me remember that I needed to talk to someone, and although my list of available confidantes was growing slim, I made it a top priority. Even though Cilla worked for me technically, she was still my best friend, and I needed a friend more than an employee at the time. She was always there for my quick rants following a particularly aggressive meeting, and the fact that she was in the room for most of them made it easy to just spill my thoughts without needing to explain the backstory. But, as much as I needed, and loved, having her there, sometimes I just needed Nick. Since my complete breakdown, he was a little more concerned about me and called whenever he got a chance. I felt a little guilty that his free time was being spent making sure I was mentally stable, but he told me that he could only relax when he was making sure that I was okay, especially considering it was his dullness that made him take the extra deployment (his words!). 

So that was our little routine for the weeks leading up to his return home. I would power through meetings all day, run on the treadmill, study facts about any of the hundreds of guests of our wedding, and keep my phone’s ringer on in case a call came in from the middle of the ocean. Christmas meant mixed emotions though because it marked a little over a week until I could see Nick again, but it also meant spending the anniversary of our engagement announcement without my fiancé. I was planning to spent the holiday alone in my apartment, watching The Sound of Music and wishing Nick was there to sing along, incredibly off-key. In Christmases past, he would spend much of the day with his family, but he always stopped by in the afternoon to watch the Von Trapp Family and tell stories of his own, and then we would spend a few days together before setting off to Klosters to spend a tense, but fun New Year’s with Richard, Freddie, and whatever other royals made the trip. I really only enjoyed going because of Nick, and Freddie and our friends provided fun incentive as well, but this year, as a royal-to-be, I would be going without Nick, on tense terms with Freddie, and without Cilla and Gaz (honeymooning) or Clive (still radio-silent). This year would be higher pressure for me and Marj treated it as a test, not a fun getaway with my in-laws. I had to be on my best behavior and not even a hair could be out of place. This meant that my daily routine became filled with not only preparing me for our wedding, but also making sure that I behaved suitably for a trip that I had been on before.

When Nick called me a few days before Christmas, he caught me at a horrible time. I had been watching old episodes of Devour (it had been canceled years before, much to the despair of Night Bex and Nick) and sobbing throughout the entirety of them, and he could tell. As soon as I picked up the phone, after a speedy (and ineffective) attempt to stop crying, he immediately knew what was happening. “Bex, darling, are you watching Devour by any chance?” I sniffled and nodded, even though he couldn’t see me. “Yes, how did you know?” I had forgotten that I told him I watch old episodes when I miss him sometimes and that he revealed that he brought DVDs with him on the boat to remind him of me. My tears ebbed as we laughed about the show and he told me funny stories from the ship, until he asked me how I was and I lost it again. It was just too hard to keep everything inside and once I started, it was hard to stop. After I had spilled my guts to him and he tried to help over the phone, he told me “Well I feel like a bloody wanker now Bex but I won’t be able to call or email again until we dock. There’s too much to do and the whole ship’s been ordered to work our asses off so we can get home in time. I’m so sorry, love.” I was wrecked, but I also knew that I desperately needed him home on January 3 and couldn’t accept anything later, so I forced myself to accept it. As we said our goodbyes, it hurt to know that I wouldn’t hear from him again until it was in person, but I also couldn’t wait to be in his arms.  
Unfortunately, my excitement to see Nick again and anxiety about all that needed to be done before then mixed about as well as drugs and alcohol. It was December 28 and I was spiraling. I could barely make it through a meeting without crying, I felt like my entire body was being physically held down, and sleep was not an option. My head rattled around thoughts constantly, and I couldn’t do anything without either thinking about Nick or the potential things that could go wrong before I saw him. I still kept my phone ready, just in case he called, and every night I would lie in bed telling myself he couldn’t call but still being disappointed in the morning when I had waited up all night for my stupid phone to ring. Gaz and Cilla had been on a long honeymoon and wouldn’t be returning for another week because Gaz’s business had picked up and Cilla wanted to take advantage of my wedding still being months away. Even my mom was on a cruise in Alaska to keep her mind off missing my dad, which I had been invited on but was unfortunately trapped in my apartment instead. Lacey had been impossible to reach, and after our past few interactions, we stopped trying. I felt completely alone and couldn’t even distract myself with doing things for Marj because every time I messed up, I was reminded of how serious of a matter it was and that I needed to perfect that skill before the Wedding of the Century. It became a vicious cycle of me not sleeping because I missed Nick, causing me to mess up in my lessons with Marj, having no one to talk to about it, and then not sleeping again because I missed having Nick to talk to about me being considered a failure of massive proportions. So when I had my weekly weigh-in (Nick’s demands that I was perfect the way I was hadn’t had much sway) and Marj was lecturing me about how displeased she was with the incredibly low number on the scale, I fainted. 

The combination of not eating enough, not sleeping enough, and constantly worrying had done its toll and my body had reached its limit. I woke up in the hospital to a hand stroking my hand. As I opened my eyes I pulled my hand away, with a lot less force than I had thought I was using, but stopped when I saw who was sitting on the edge of my bed. There, in a blue button-down with the sleeves rolled up and his hair a little shorter than I remembered, was Nick. He likes to say that my eyes lit up and I started drooling when I saw him, but I just remember feeling complete, as cheesy as that sounds. When he brushed my hair out of my eyes and kissed my forehead, I felt as if all of my worries and doubts over the past few months had disappeared and I had been reenergized. As the doctors would reveal, I had fainted due to exhaustion and they had medically put me to sleep for a few days to make me catch up. As for Nick, the sailors working their asses off had paid off because they docked a few days earlier than planned and he had gotten home the day before. He told me that he had planned to surprise me with flowers in a meeting and was informed that I had been in the hospital and he hadn’t left my side since, to which I replied, “well that explains the smell in here.” He laughed and his eyes glistened as he looked at me, which I had missed so much. I have found myself wondering almost every day if it is possible to love someone the way I love him, and when we walked into Marj’s office once I was discharged and we were able to act upon the feelings we had been having for half of the year, I knew that it wasn’t. He made it clear to everyone that I was not a doll to be polished until I’m their pawn and no longer myself, which I could have done myself (I’m usually a pretty tough cookie) if I hadn’t been afraid that they’d send me to a dungeon and ban me from marrying Nick. Knowing that I had someone on my side, and would for the rest of my life, made me realize that even though the life I had gotten myself into sent me to the hospital when I had to do it alone, I was unstoppable with Nick by my side.


End file.
